If I Were a Sports Reporter ...

Tom Hoopes here. Tim and I were chatting with some "mainstream media" journalists yesterday. I mentioned something the Register's publisher, Legionary Father Owen Kearns told the editorial board of a daily newspaper (I forget which).

Father Owen said that it's nice that newspapers are trying to cater more to religious audiences, but that good intentions aren't enough. "You would never assign someone who had little understanding of sports to the sports beat," he said. "So why do you assign people who know very little about religion to your religion beat?"

I remember that now because I am sitting in the media center listening to one side of an interview a "mainstream media" guy is doing. He just asked:

"Now, I'm just learning about all of this so bear with me. But tell me if this could work out. What I'm hearing is that there are some differences between, like, traditionalists and folks stateside about, like, what's allowable for homosexuals or abortion or whatever. Now, could this just be a restructuring issue? I mean, can't they just have kind of like a corporate policy out of Rome and, maybe, give some of the countries that have these different interests, give them some leeway to structure their own thing?"

And so he's kind of, like, suggesting a second Reformation or something, maybe.

Which makes me think of what I would be like as a sports reporter.

"So, I understand that there's a problem in that lots of guys try to tackle the one quarterback while he's, like, about to throw the ball. Could this just be a restructuring issue? I mean, what's to stop you from hiring, like, six quarterbacks and five running backs, and then have them all fan out so that, maybe, the other team wouldn't know who to go after, and they'd all go after different guys and then you'd have, maybe, a better chance to throw the ball?"

By the way, when I quoted that line of Father Owen's to our "mainstream media" friends, the one I was facing suddenly got kind of quiet and a little red, let an awkward silence build, and then began talking about how gusty the winds were on an otherwise sunny day.

Comments

[John Burger]

Good point Tom. I heard a Fox News reporter this morning on TV refer to the Pope as "God in human form." I'm sure he meant well, but he has no idea what the Vicar of Christ is. I felt embarrassed listening to that, and I cringed to think about how it would be received by certain non-Catholics listening. "What the heck do those Catholics believe? This sounds mighty close to idolatry."

[Matt]

Les Nessman here, winner of five buckeye news hawk awards, with the religious news of the day. I was a little breezy on Pennsylvania Ave at noon today, maybe it was coming from Eugene Robinson, Sally Quinn and Christopher Hitchens at the Post.

[Dennis Poust]

I thought Jesus was "God in human form"? I've been doing a lot of cringing myself over CNN's coverage. Fortunately, Father Martin and Father Fessio, et al are doing a good job, but when it is left to the CNN anchors, oh boy. By the way, did you know the Catholic Church had a sex abuse crisis? You may have heard mention of it a couple of million times the past couple of days.

[Tom Hoopes]

No, Bono is God in human form.

[Tina Dennelly]

I'm not sure which is funnier, the reporter suggesting another Reformation or picturing you covering football. Actually... you on the sports beat makes me laugh; he and the rest of the mainstream media covering religion just makes me want to cry.

[Zaccheus Treed]

What Mark Shea said.

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